War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 824 Illusion
"Everyone free up the bamboo baskets"

At the entrance of the cave, Zhou Guochang, who was sweating all day, helped translate, "Master Sehao said, he took us to find a place to take a bath, where we can catch fish and mountain crabs, and we can also dig in the bamboo forest not far away. There are fresh bamboo shoots, so remember to bring hatchets and fishing nets, canvas buckets, and of course, guns and shovels.”

"Wei Ran, keep upright," Squad Leader Liang reminded softly, tapping his cigarette pouch.

Hearing this, Wei Ran and the two nodded, and calmly took out a devil officer lunch box wrapped in layers of tarpaulin from their respective panniers, and put it into the rucksack that Squad Leader Liang took out from the pannier.

Following what the little monk said, they emptied the basket and took a set of tools. In the dark night, they walked along the side of the mountain for a distance of [-] meters, and then saw a small waterfall that was not too big, and The pool located directly below the waterfall.

Not far from this pool of water, there is a dense bamboo forest.Even, Wei Ran saw a wild animal that looked like a donkey and an antelope from a distance.

"Mountain donkey!"

Zhou Guochang was the first to recognize the type of that thing, and subconsciously raised the submachine gun he had been holding.

"Don't shoot!"

Wei Ran and Squad Leader Liang stopped Zhou Guochang in no particular order, "We don't lack that stutterer, it's dark today, and the sound of gunfire is too far away, if there are devils following behind, we won't be able to sleep well this night. "

"Didn't the little master say that there are fish here, let Shouzheng cast a few more nets later, and there will still be meat to eat." Squad leader Liang knocked the cigarette bag on the barrel of the opponent's submachine gun and said.

Zhou Guochang grinned in embarrassment, put away the submachine gun, reached out and pulled out the Gurkha scimitar that he didn't want to throw away from the back basket, "Then I'll go dig bamboo shoots."

Squad leader Liang asked worriedly, "Dig more, Wei Ran, you should follow along."

"Do not worry"

Wei Ran nodded, naturally he knew that Squad Leader Liang mainly let himself take care of Zhou Guochang, after all, in this barren mountain, not to mention whether there are tigers in the bamboo forest, even a poisonous snake can kill a person.

"Luke, do you want to dig bamboo shoots with us?" Wei Ran asked Luke, a businessman who was taking off his boots by the pool.

"Wei, let me go." Luke said pretending to be weak, "I still have a fever, and now I urgently need to take a cold shower to cool down."

Hearing this, Wei Ran didn't bother to expose the other party's desire to be lazy, and pulled out the machete that he bought together with the Gurkha machete in Mansi Town from his back basket, and followed Zhou Guochang with a kerosene lamp in his hand Into the bamboo forest.

What he didn't expect was that the little monk Sehao, who was barefoot all the way, also followed him, and seeing his familiar appearance, it seemed that this bamboo forest was his family's vegetable garden, moving here and there Yes, I picked up a lot of weeds that I didn't know what to do with.

Although the little monk didn't talk much, he worked very hard. Under his leadership, Wei Ran and Zhou Guochang not only dug up a basket full of bamboo shoots, but even caught a fat bamboo rat with great luck.

With such a rich harvest, not to mention Zhou Guochang, who has never been to Savage Mountain, even Wei Ran, who has heard the horror of Savage Mountain in later generations, can't help but relax his tense nerves all the time. "Is this Savage Mountain just like this?" Illusion.

By the time the three of them returned to the pool with bamboo rats and bamboo shoots on their backs, Tan Shouzheng had already caught many unnamed small miscellaneous fish with fishing nets, and was busy cleaning the internal organs in the lower reaches of the pool.

In contrast, the businessman Luke was particularly leisurely. At this time, he was humming with his bare buttocks, and was cleaning the clothes he was wearing by stepping on the pool.

Too lazy to be serious with this lazy bastard, Wei Ran threw the fat bamboo rat to Tan Shouzheng to deal with, turned around and chose a place to set up the oil lamp, and together with Zhou Guochang and Squad Leader Liang, was busy peeling the bamboo shoots that had just been dug.

On the contrary, the little monk Sehao took out a bowl-sized stone bowl and matching stone pestle from his back basket silently, mixed the weeds he picked himself, and smashed them patiently into mud, Under Ke's almost terrified eyes, he applied it to his still red and swollen wound.

"Zhou, my wound will get infected because of these disgusting things." Luke, who was still lazy just now, complained to Zhou Guochang.

"no way"

Zhou Guochang responded with a look of helplessness and even some gloating, "You have lived in Free Electricity for so long, you must know that most of the local people get sick from the monks in the temple for treatment. Since they can cure others, they must be able to cure them too. you."

"I hope so"

Luke looked at the wound on his arm and shook his head helplessly. Among the six of them, the only medicine that was not lacking was quinine. Now he could only pin all his hopes on the little monk Sehao.

"Liang, I want to talk to you." Luke, who had taken a shower in advance, changed into a pair of British army shorts prepared in advance, and said to Squad Leader Liang who was peeling bamboo shoots.

"If you have anything to say, just say it," Squad Leader Liang responded without raising his head.

"No, no, I want to talk to you alone."

Luke patted the shorts on his body while speaking, "Look, I'm only wearing a pair of shorts, and there are wounds on my arms. Are you still worried that I will hurt you?"

Hearing this, Squad Leader Liang slowly peeled the bamboo shoots in his hand, then took out the cigarette pouch and slowly lit it, and waited until the choking smoke gushed out from his mouth and nose, then he took off the backpack he had been carrying and handed it to Leaving Wei Ran, he got up and followed Luke, who was barefoot and shirtless, to the edge of the small waterfall one after the other.

Because of the night and the noise of the waterfall, the people present didn't know what the two of them were talking about, but they obviously had a disagreement in words.

After more than half an hour, Lu Ke and Squad Leader Liang came back one after the other. Wei Ran and the others had already processed the ingredients and took a bath in batches. What about clothes?

After Squad Leader Liang also took a bath, the group returned to the cave under the leadership of the young monk Sehao. Squad Leader Liang also assigned tasks to everyone as if nothing had happened.

In the increasingly dark night, the little monk Sehao first took out a small pot and lent it to Squad Leader Liang, then lit a small bonfire at the entrance of the cave, and covered it with some grass picked along the way.

When the smoke with a fishy-sweet smell drifted away, the mosquitoes that had been lingering around my ears were also instantly emptied.Even the two donkeys that were led out of the cave were able to eat two mouthfuls of grass with peace of mind.

At the same time, on the four bonfires lined up inside the cave, the young monk quietly boiled herbs in a casserole.In the enamel pot next to it, Zhou Guochang was in charge of boiling water to fill everyone's kettles.

In the iron pot that Tan Shouzheng was in charge of, thick rice porridge was being boiled, and even Wei Ran was assigned by Squad Leader Liang to chop vegetables.

In the busyness of everyone, the kettles were filled one by one, and the enamel pot was also filled with a pot full of boiling water.Not only that, on the table set up with stone slabs, the bamboo and wooden bowls were also filled with thick rice porridge.In the middle of the table, the small miscellaneous fish and bamboo shoots fried by Squad Leader Liang with chili are the only side dishes.

In addition, the jerky horse meat made before, as well as the bamboo shoots that Wei Ran just cut out and some small miscellaneous fish left behind on purpose were also threaded on thin bamboo strips and placed on the campfire for smoking, and kept for the day. food for the road.

A group of six people ate around the kerosene lamp in the center of the table, and they were also chatting about their own topics.

In order to persuade Zhou Guochang and Wei Ran to follow him to find the retreating British, businessman Lu Ke deliberately changed into English.Tan Shouzheng discussed with Squad Leader Liang why monks without electricity can eat meat in a dialect that Wei Ran sometimes understands and sometimes does not understand.

In contrast, it was the little monk who put all his attention on the small miscellaneous fish fried by Squad Leader Liang, watching him take a mouthful of fish with a silver fork he didn't know where he came from, and he didn't even intend to stop. , as if he had forgotten that he was fleeing with a group of foreigners in Savage Mountain.

After finishing their dinner on the topic, Wei Ran, Zhou Guochang, and Qin Shouzheng took the initiative to take turns to watch the night.

At the entrance of the cave, Wei Ran, who was assigned to be on the first shift, sat by the bonfire emitting white smoke, holding a submachine gun, looking at the two sleeping donkeys standing at the entrance of the cave, and the unclear stars in the night sky above his head.

It didn't take long at all, and there were one after another grunts and even indistinct ravings from behind.

Just when Wei Ran's eyes started to fight, a bright light suddenly flashed in the night sky, and immediately after that, there was a loud thunder that scared the two donkeys.

"The devil's plane is coming?"

Zhou Guochang scrambled to his feet in his sleep, and asked loudly in panic.His voice also made Squad Leader Liang and the others who had just woken up subconsciously clenched their weapons beside their pillows.

"It's thundering." Wei Ran, who was also taken aback, rubbed his face vigorously, "Go to sleep."

Hearing this, everyone who was awakened by the thunder breathed a sigh of relief, and each of them lay back on their bedding and closed their eyes.

Less than 5 minutes before and after, the torrential rain poured down, Wei Ran had to get up, led the two donkeys into the cave, and tied them to the ankles of the Buddha statue.

When he returned to sit next to the bonfire at the entrance of the cave, the cool wind filled with water vapor also spread over his face, which immediately made the sweltering cave much cooler.

Taking out the flyback watch from his pocket to glance at the time, Wei Ran yawned, and put the submachine gun he was holding at his feet all the time.

The more and more frequent rains all indicate that Savage Mountain has entered a more terrifying rainy season. Not to mention the danger of Savage Mountain itself, their group still has enough food and drink, but what about the large troops who entered Savage Mountain ahead of time? ?

Wei Ran shivered involuntarily, secretly guessing how many people this rain would kill
(End of this chapter)